I was a former senior manager at KPMG and since 1994 the owner of the Marks Group PC, a 10 person customer relationship management consulting firm based outside Philadelphia. I've written six small-business management books, most recently "The Manufacturer's Book of List" and “In God We Trust, Everyone Else Pays Cash: Simple Lessons From Smart Business People.” Besides Forbes, I daily for The Washington Post and weekly for Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and the Huffington Post monthly for Philadelphia Magazine. I am an unpaid contributor to Forbes. I make no compensation from the number of people who read what I write here. Follow me on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In.

12/12/2011 @ 7:25AM780,160 views

If I Were A Poor Black Kid

President Obama gave an excellent speech last week in Kansas about inequality in America.

“This is the defining issue of our time.” He said. “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.”

He’s right. The spread between rich and poor has gotten wider over the decades. And the opportunities for the 99% have become harder to realize.

The President’s speech got me thinking. My kids are no smarter than similar kids their age from the inner city. My kids have it much easier than their counterparts from West Philadelphia. The world is not fair to those kids mainly because they had the misfortune of being born two miles away into a more difficult part of the world and with a skin color that makes realizing the opportunities that the President spoke about that much harder. This is a fact. In 2011.

I am not a poor black kid. I am a middle aged white guy who comes from a middle class white background. So life was easier for me. But that doesn’t mean that the prospects are impossible for those kids from the inner city. It doesn’t mean that there are no opportunities for them. Or that the 1% control the world and the rest of us have to fight over the scraps left behind. I don’t believe that. I believe that everyone in this country has a chance to succeed. Still. In 2011. Even a poor black kid in West Philadelphia.

It takes brains. It takes hard work. It takes a little luck. And a little help from others. It takes the ability and the know-how to use the resources that are available. Like technology. As a person who sells and has worked with technology all my life I also know this.

If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently. I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city. Even the worst have their best. And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities. Getting good grades is the key to having more options. With good grades you can choose different, better paths. If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.

And I would use the technology available to me as a student. I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays. That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home than on the streets. And libraries and schools have computers available too. Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet. Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

If I was a poor black kid I’d use the free technology available to help me study. I’d become expert at Google Scholar. I’d visit study sites like SparkNotes and CliffsNotes to help me understand books. I’d watch relevant teachings on Academic Earth, TED and the Khan Academy. (I say relevant because some of these lectures may not be related to my work or too advanced for my age. But there are plenty of videos on these sites that are suitable to my studies and would help me stand out.) I would also, when possible, get my books for free at Project Gutenberg and learn how to do research at the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia to help me with my studies.

Is this easy? No it’s not. It’s hard. It takes a special kind of kid to succeed. And to succeed even with these tools is much harder for a black kid from West Philadelphia than a white kid from the suburbs. But it’s not impossible. The tools are there. The technology is there. And the opportunities there.

In Philadelphia, there are nationally recognized magnet schools like Central, Girls High and Masterman. These schools are free. But they are hard to get in to. You need good grades and good test scores. And there are also other good magnet and charter schools in the city. You also need good grades to get into those. In a school system that is so broken these are bright spots. Getting into one of these schools opens up a world of opportunities. More than 90% of the kids that go to Central go on to college. I would use the internet to research each one of these schools so I could find out how I could be admitted. I would find out the names of the admissions people and go to meet with them. If I was a poor black kid I would make it my goal to get into one of these schools.

Or even a private school. Most private schools I know are filled to the brim with the 1%. That’s because these schools are exclusive and expensive, costing anywhere between $20 and $50k per year. But there’s a secret about them. Most have scholarship programs. Most have boards of trustees that want to give opportunities to kids that can’t afford the tuition. Many would provide funding for not only tuition but also for transportation or even boarding. Trust me, they want to show diversity. They want to show smiling, smart kids of many different colors and races on their fundraising brochures. If I was a poor black kid I’d be using technology to research these schools on the internet, too, and making them know that I exist and that I get good grades and want to go to their school.

And once admitted to one of these schools the first person I’d introduce myself to would be the school’s guidance counselor. This is the person who will one day help me go to a college. This is the person who knows everything there is to know about financial aid, grants, minority programs and the like. This is the person who may also know of job programs and co-op learning opportunities that I could participate in. This is the person who could help me get summer employment at a law firm or a business owned by the 1% where I could meet people and show off my stuff.

If I was a poor black kid I would get technical. I would learn software. I would learn how to write code. I would seek out courses in my high school that teaches these skills or figure out where to learn more online. I would study on my own. I would make sure my writing and communication skills stay polished.

Because a poor black kid who gets good grades, has a part time job and becomes proficient with a technical skill will go to college. There is financial aid available. There are programs available. And no matter what he or she majors in that person will have opportunities. They will find jobs in a country of business owners like me who are starved for smart, skilled people. They will succeed.

President Obama was right in his speech last week. The division between rich and poor is a national problem. But the biggest challenge we face isn’t inequality. It’s ignorance. So many kids from West Philadelphia don’t even know these opportunities exist for them. Many come from single-parent families whose mom or dad (or in many cases their grand mom) is working two jobs to survive and are just (understandably) too plain tired to do anything else in the few short hours they’re home. Many have teachers who are overburdened and too stressed to find the time to help every kid that needs it. Many of these kids don’t have the brains to figure this out themselves – like my kids. Except that my kids are just lucky enough to have parents and a well-funded school system around to push them in the right direction.

Technology can help these kids. But only if the kids want to be helped. Yes, there is much inequality. But the opportunity is still there in this country for those that are smart enough to go for it.

Editor’s note — This post has generated an enormous amount of feedback here on Forbes and across the web. Here are a few of those responses:

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I saw your point. I didn’t grow up poor, but marriage to the wrong man (and more to the point a child with him) did send me into the financial problem direction very fast, as his commitment to support and the value of a good education was like his commitment to the marriage…

Where I part ways with your points though, even though I understand them, is placing all this sense of responsibility on these children that you have admitted even your children don’t have, things even your children don’t think of, and they live a much less stressful life. It is the PARENTS of these children you need to address, because it is not the child’s job to get himself ahead and in life and draw the attention of those who can provide such opportunities to himself, it is his PARENTS’ job!

To prevent being born poor from turning into a lifetive of a vicious cycle:

MOVE TO A TOP SCHOOL ZONE. GET A ROOMMATE. FINISH COLLEGE. LEAVE THAT TOWN. LEAVE THAT STATE . SEND KID TO PRIVATE SCHOOL.

These are the options that parents can take if they are serious about getting their child a great future.

I needed more help than I had, but you will be surprised how even strangers are willing to help you when they see you are trying and not just set on maintaining your lowest common denominator.

People want to feel good all the time…he’s talking about the typical future of a poor black child here, what is there to feel good about? When you feel good about something you are psychologically NOT motivated to do a darn thing to change it!

No, you don’t have to know everything you just have to WANT BETTER FOR YOUR CHILD THAN YOU HAD FOR YOURSELF. Long as you have that want in your head as a parent you will get out there and figure out what you have to do to make it happen.

Again, if the parents have no ambitions for their child(ren)…only a rare lightning strike so to speak will allow that child to luck out and rise above the circumstance.

this article was distributed and discussed at my wife’s West Philadelphia charter school, which happens to be an ALL BLACK SCHOOL (2 white students out of 500). All students in the first graduating class were admitted to 4-year universities. Something like 90% of them enrolled and are succeeding today at major universities. It is no accident that articles like this are distributed at an all black school that demonstrates a high level of success. Great work Mr. Marks. To all who think this is ignorance…OPEN YOUR EYES!

Ok NOW your article makes more sense. I was curious as to why you seemed to be stating that “poor black children” all live in West Philly. Perhaps the background for this piece should have been stated in the story. I do agree w/you to a certain extent. Education is paramount. However, I was raised in a two parent home. My father worked f/t for a good company, my mother p/t. As an adult, I know now that there were times that they struggled hard to get by. I was a child that didn’t have to study hard in elementary school and I was accepted into Masterman. Even then, I didn’t take advantage of all of the opportunities that were given me but I still managed to do okay for myself. As some of the previous comments state, your intelligence doesn’t always put you at the top. It can’t hurt any, but oftentimes circumstances and being in the right place at the right time can make a person’s future. This is a very interesting point of view. I came to realize that if it were a black author that wrote this, a lot of the responses would have been different (yes, this is coming from a black woman).

Well sir, I’m not so sure that I agree with you. Basically What your saying is that there is no hope for the people from a poor neighborhood, that no matter how hard they work they will never be able to get into one of those private or magnet schools. That they should just give up now because there is absolutely no hope for them to get into a good school.

Sir, I’m not going to let that happen to me. I am going to put my heart and soul to get into the places I want to go. I don’t agree to everything that man has written, but I do agree that some of these kids aren’t doing anything to help their futures. I know because I’m only 14, and I used to walk the halls every day seeing my peers ignorantly wasting their time.

You said, and I quote, ” It helps to be knowledgeable, it pays to be talented and it takes luck to be successful”, but I say, it PAYS to be knowledgeable, It’s a BLESSING to be talented, and it takes WORK to be successful. And if you think I’m being naive or ignorant, well that’s you. But personally, I’d rather stay both of those things, because if I do, at least i know there’s hope for me.

Thanks. From one poor kid to another, thank you for your understanding. I hear this same bs from liberal college professors that declare they understand what it’s like to be poor. The problem with poverty is not about the amount of books you have in your house but not about having enough money!!! How can I focus on education when I don’t have enough food to eat or hot water in my home? How can I focus on education when my parents are not involved in my life at all? These stupid solutions are ill thought and do not work. Annnnnd then you’ve got the ethnic thing, let’s say I learn all these things and do all this crap and become some poor, black success story, let’s say that happens. What happens when my smart ass encounters white racism? White people are not a liberal as they claim to be and when they encounter a black person that is much smarter than they are they often panic and do some of the oddest things. What would I tell the “poor black kid”? I would tell him never to listen to any advice from liberals that are trying to “help” him. The help they offer is not truly help but pity. Pity that would not see you rise above them or be on parity with them but just below them.

Have you considered the fact that while your “recipe” looks good on paper, the vast majority of “poor black kids” are too concerned about if they’re going to be able to eat dinner that night as opposed to researching the best schools in their area. I was blessed enough to grow up right at the bottom of the “middle class” line, whilst i witnessed my friends from church and even some from my neighborhood begging to come to my parent’s house simply because they knew they would be fed. And back then (the 90′s) computers were a luxury that even WE didn’t have. Many of my peers had parents that didn’t own vehicles and rode the bus or walked EVERYWHERE they went. So if they just so happened to have “stumbled” across some miraculous school that could change their lives, there was a guarantee it would NOT have been in our neighborhood, or the bus would take forever to get them to the other side of town. MOST of the teachers/guidance counselors were only concerned about keeping their own jobs, and very few of them went that extra mile for their students. If a student showed potential to be a very smart student, they were held on to in order to make the school look better. There was no, “Hey, you seem to be doing really well in your classes. I’ve got some information on a charter school that would suit you really well.” NO… Besides, children can’t apply to go to schools on their own (DUH) so a parent would have to do it for them. And before that parent would do it, they would have to be convinced. Which in an impoverished black family, every decision is made based on finances and ease, simply because there is not enough time in the day or money to be thrown away. If the child is going to school a mile away from home and there is not an unnaturally amount of paperwork to be completed (public school system) the parent is more likely to lean towards that option as opposed to applying to the school, applying for scholarships, submitting financial aid information, figuring out transportation (and if the child will be riding the bus, they have to learn the route, apply for a bus card, and pay for the card, which also costs money) for the EXCELLENT charter school on the other side of town. That’s a sacrifice that is not up to the CHILDREN, but instead up to the parents. One that most inner city parents would be reluctant to make. Like someone commented earlier, libraries only have so many computers, and not NEAR enough to fill the need of the inner city students. When you’re there, you only have an hour (tops) to utilize a computer and only after your session is done you have to get back in line to wait to use it again. (Still goes on to this day) so until you know what actually goes on as a “poor black kid” i suggest you do more research before writing such an article. I understand your intentions were good, but please, it is so much more than that.

hello. I am an international student who’s here in the U.S purely for education. My family is still back where I came from. I study neuroscience. The only reason I am on this forum is my personal interest in sociology of this vast melting pot. The fact that I did not grow up here does as much in giving me objectivity as disqualifying me as a judge to situations like this one. I don’t even speak your language that well, which I know you can already see. However, I have an open mind and would like to know how other people experience the world. Ryanc86 sir, your comment was an eye opener. Having a family that could provide enough credit history to let me get a loan to come study here, I’d categorize myself as being from the middle class as well, though a different country. It means I have to admit humbly that I did not know what it’s like growing up like you did. It is truly admirable that you brought yourself that far, getting in a school I wanted to get in, and now providing level-headed other-side-of-story which helped people like me broaden our horizons. When I first read the article by Mr. Marks, I thought the “recipe” was relatively reasonable; this is a country where anything is possible as long as you work hard enough to deserve it, after all, or so I want to believe. But you brought up the point that there are in fact so many stress factors in poor kids’ lives that even IF(I emphasize the “if”) the technical resources are available to them, they would be too wound up by other aspects in their lives to use them. A seminar in developmental psychology that I attended addressed something similar: instability in home environment is correlated to pre-school childrens’ concentration at school. May I attempt to suggest, therefore, that the real problem at hand is not how hard the poor black kids need to work (or in plainer words, how MUCH HARDER they have to try compared to middle class kids), but how much the government should help parents, guardians, or social services eliminate unstable home environments? That way, the differences between the inner city kids and those from the suburbs would be at least lessen. So Mr.Marks, your thoughts on how the youngsters from inner cities should work hard stand corrected, but maybe actually putting yourself in their shoes and take other factors of their lives into consideration will help with future assessments.

This is my first time making a comment about a domestic issue. And it is 9 months after the original was published, too. However, I wonder how my point of view is like in other readers’ eyes. Please comment.